Is your dog ever “trained”? Are you ever finished training?

03•27•18

Cooper is a good dog.

Cooper is a smart dog.

He knows all sorts of things, from the basic obedience cues like sit and stay and down to more complex cues like shutting cabinet doors and performing tricks. Based on what he knows at this point, anything else I teach him is just for fun. Games. Tricks. Nothing too useful but definitely entertaining.

Which means, of course, that I’ve become complacent in his obedience work. Can I consider him “done,” like a cake? Finished, like there’s no more training to do?

As far as obedience, anyway, there’s nothing much to do here. Wipe my hands. Move on.

Maybe…

But it wouldn’t do either one of us any good (and it might do him some long-term harm).

I recently encountered this statement in a Facebook group that went something like: “Well, my dog’s trained, so we don’t really work on XYZ. No point.”

So, is your dog ever “trained”?

When I work with Cooper, I think of his “training” in two buckets: obedience, the stuff mentioned above that he’s mastered, and behavior, the stuff that’s harder to quantify like being scared of new objects or barking out the living room window because the wind blew the leaves in the tree funny.

The obedience stuff is important, especially in the early days of a new pup. It’s the house training, the basic manners, the useful parts of being a member of a family. There comes a time, though, when a dog has learned pretty much everything they need to… Anything else, like tricks or dog games or even sports like agility, well, that’s just icing on this cake.

Or is it?

The behavior stuff, on the other hand, has to be ongoing if you love a dog who’s anything but a happy goober. You know the kind of dog I’m talking about… No dog I’ve ever cared for has been a happy goober. 🙂 (Well, maybe Molly…)

This is the forever training, the ongoing stuff. The reinforcement and the conditioning. This is the training where one day you discover that your quirky pup is afraid of the new bird feeder you hung in your backyard, so you work on that. This is the training where you try to catch your dog every single time he, say, sees a person on a motorcycle while riding in the car by tossing treats from the bag you keep in your glove compartment.

This type of training, in my opinion, is never “done.” Unless, of course, you’re the person of a goober dog!

That said, I’ve discovered that the obedience training conditions Cooper to learn. If we’re working on a behavior issue, or if I’m simply trying to build up his confidence so that he can go to a new park without shaking like a little leaf (we’re not there yet), obedience training does the trick.

He gets into “work” mode.

He starts to focus.

His mindset shifts from “AHHHHHHOMG!!!!” to “hey, I know what to do!”

We had a great session recently when we went to the playground. We traded off pushing Violet on the little baby swing and having Cooper “work” on basic cues. On the other side of the playground, a small family played on the climbing rocks, and on the soccer fields behind us, a bunch of guys were playing a pick-up game. It was a super distracting environment, though it was a park he’s very comfortable with. And he nailed it. Of course, we thankfully didn’t see any other dogs–this would probably be a different story!–but it’s progress.

Cooper is a good dog. At home, or at my parents’ house, he’s nearly perfect.

But he’s nowhere near “trained” and we’re certainly not done training.

Even when he’s reached a happy old age, games and toys and trying new things–all pieces of “dog training”–will be part of his daily routine because it keeps his mind fit, just like research shows daily mental activity like completing sudoku or crossword puzzles helps stave off Alzheimer’s.

And so, my long, meandering post comes to an end with my conclusion being, of course, that a dog might know a lot of stuff, but training can keep him mentally engaged and mentally fit to help his aging process go smoother and to stave off boredom. He might know all his obedience cues, and we’re not working to turn him into an obedient little automaton, but training is a big, important piece to his overall wellness.

How about you and your pup? What do you think? Do you consider your dog “trained” or your training “done”? How do you work to keep your dog mentally fit and engaged? Leave a comment below, and let’s trade training notes!

Sharing is caring!

Related

Comments

Our “living arrangements” have been askew for several weeks – and I’ll write about it when things finally go back to normal – so “training” as such has gone out the window.

That said, however, things are okay with us and there’s nothing to worry about. When things are “normal”, the training I do with Shadow is limited due to her physical limitations. It’s hard for her to sit, down, stay, etc with any amount of quickness or duration. So I don’t ask her to. When she and Ducky are waiting to go out in the yard, I tell them both “wait”. And they both wait for my release cue (“ok”). Hubby, OTH, believes that training is MY job and pretty much lets the girls get away with A LOT. So, I constantly have work to do with Ducky, especially. Thankfully, both girls know who to listen to – me. ? And Shadow has always been one of those dogs who lives to please her humans in every way possible.

I really wish that when Kol and Fe were “done” I had started working on skill that would benefit them NOW. I’d have worked on exercises that build core and hind end strength. I’d have taught them to use rehab equipment before we needed to. I’d have worked on hand commands before Felix’s hearing started to go and worked on scent marking the house before his eyes got weary. I wish I had spent some of the time with my adult dogs setting them up better for success in their senior years.

A thousand times this. It was a lesson I learned big-time with Emmett. But, hindsight is always perfect vision. You’re an AMAZING mama to those boys, and this is all just part of it. Big hugs and thank you for sharing!

LOL, no. Training is never finished. Neither for 13 year old Habi (as you note, this is SO important for senior dogs. We think it’s mitigating what we suspect is some cognitive decline) nor for 7 year old Obi (who is so friendly he always needs manners work, and is so smart we have a hard time thinking up new games. Someday we’ll tell you about “Slime Alert!”).

@Shadow and Ducky’s mom: we too have to adapt training to Habi’s physical and mental impairments. Actually, most of her “training” is physical therapy “games”, which she loves. We play them twice a day, and over the last six months have seen quite a bit of improvement in her hindquarter strength and stability. She has spinal issues, so we didn’t expect to see these gains.Last fall we also took a Fenzi class on “Helping Your Aging Dog Thrive”, which was fabulous. The next class starts June 1. Maybe by then your lives will have settled down a bit? Good luck!

Oh, my gosh! That class sounds AMAZING! What a wonderful offering to support pets and their people through the aging process. Thank you so much for sharing that. And… please, please tell us about “slime alert” when you can. I am SUPER curious about that one!!! 🙂

Great topic. My young dog Remy will be “in training” for probably the rest of his life! Of course, I believe training never ends.

But with my senior dog Ace, we have not worked on any “training” in the traditional sense anyway for about 2 years. He’s simply old and extremely low energy and has no behavior problems. He basically sleeps 22 hours a day if I let him. He doesn’t pull on the leash because he walks so slowly., for example.

But, of course, I still try to look for ways to keep him thinking and learning and experiencing new things the best I can. Puzzle toys, visiting new places, working on the stuff he already knows for treats. Maybe even working on a new trick here and there. I see that he still loves to work on basic obedience for treats like we used to do .. stays, recall, etc. This post is a good reminder to keep on working his mind. So important for the seniors as much as the young pups.

So, obviously as you’re saying, it’s important to keep on “training” in some way! (For people too!)

Definitely agree with this – ‘forever training’ is so important for dogs. I think it’s the same as for humans – if you don’t practice a skill, then you’ll end up losing it over time. Use it or lose it! I also think low-key training and games help keep my dogs’ minds sharp as they get older.

I totally agree with you, I tend to slack off a bit on the day to day as it becomes commonplace and yet I know this needs to be reinforced constantly so that Monty reacts correctly to the new stuff that is out of his comfort zone. It is almost like the daily exercise in his comfort zone prepares him for the reactive behavior outside of the home or when someone news intrudes on his ‘space’.
I would give anything to have him as a ‘goober’ but he is never going to be that and I will be working on this forever more!!

I am currently training our new addition, Lily, a Pointer mix with lots of energy. Knowing from experience that keeping dogs busy and learning new things makes a difference. I too only wish I had taught my Raven (he went to the BRIDGE IN February) some sign language because his hearing loss came before his sight loss. He knew the hand signals for sit, stay you know the usual commands I wish I had taught him more. So no, training never ends